Download Parliamentary Meeting on the occasion of the United Nations

136th IPU Assembly
Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1- 5 April 2017
Governing Council
Item 7
CL/200/7(a)-R.1
13 February 2017
Reports on recent IPU specialized meetings
(b)
Parliamentary Meeting on the occasion of the
United Nations Climate Change Conference
Marrakech (Morocco), 13 November 2016
The IPU and the Parliament of Morocco organized a Parliamentary Meeting at the United
Nations Climate Change Conference in Marrakech (COP22). The meeting was attended
by 300 delegates from more than 60 countries and five continents. They heard from some
of the key figures in climate change negotiations and climate science, including the
UNFCCC Executive Secretary.
The Parliamentary Meeting proved that parliamentarians are keenly aware of the
imperative to take concrete action on climate change. In particular MPs know that they
must legislate on the Nationally Determined Contributions, on transitioning to renewable
energy and on technology transfer. What stands in the way in many countries is the
capacity of parliaments to provide effective and specific contributions, help establish
strategies and ensure those strategies are financed. Investing to build that capacity is a
prerequisite for sound legislation and action.
The Parliamentary Meeting underscored that climate change is also an issue of social
justice and equality and that effective action should take account of discrimination and
human rights. The parliamentarians paid special attention to the social and health
impacts of climate change, particular on women, children and adolescents as a
vulnerable and often marginalized group. Laws and policies to combat climate change
need to include measures that specifically target these sectors of society.
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#IPU136
The Meeting also showed that many parliamentarians find the language of climate
change negotiations too technical and scientific. It seems difficult both to understand and
translate into legislation and other measures. MPs also find this language difficult to
explain to the citizens to whom they are accountable. In order to inspire strong social
mobilization around climate change, parliamentarians and scientists need to work
together to make the issues understandable to everybody everywhere.
At the end of the Meeting, parliamentarians adopted a forward-looking roadmap (see
annex overleaf) for their future action on climate change. The roadmap also recognizes
the strong contribution that IPU has made in combating climate change. The Organization
looks forward to continuing that contribution.
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ANNEX
PARLIAMENTARY MEETING
ON THE OCCASION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE
Marrakech (Morocco), 13 November 2016
Organized jointly by the Inter-Parliamentary Union
and the Parliament of Morocco
Outcome document
Adopted by consensus on 13 November 2016
We, parliamentarians from around the world, gathered in Marrakech during the
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22 session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on
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Climate Change (COP22) and the 12 session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the
meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP12),
Welcoming the international community's growing awareness of the reality of climate
change, its consequences and its potential human and economic costs,
Also welcoming the fact that, particularly throughout the different sessions of the
Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and
those of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol,
such awareness has been accompanied by a strong mobilization of Heads of State and
Government, parliaments, the private sector and civil society, which led to the conclusion of the
Paris Agreement on 12 December 2015,
Reaffirming that the Paris Agreement, signed in New York on 22 April 2016 by
174 States – the largest ever number of signatories to an international agreement – and
accompanied by 188 nationally determined contributions designed to go some way towards
achieving the Agreement's ambitious goals, represents a strong, almost unanimous political
commitment from the international community, as well as an undeniable victory for climate-change
diplomacy,
Welcoming the entry into force on 4 November 2016 of the Paris Agreement, and
underscoring that enhanced pre-2020 action is a sine qua non for setting into motion the main
directions foreseen under this Agreement ,
Recognizing that to date, 105 countries have ratified the Paris Agreement; the onus is
now on all States to strive to maintain the momentum triggered by the conclusion of that
Agreement, just as it is on States that have not yet done so to deposit their instruments of
ratification, acceptance, approval or accession as soon as possible in order to enable
implementation in all countries,
Recalling that, under Article 2 of the Paris Agreement, the main objectives fall under
four main areas, namely: mitigating climate change, enhancing capacity for adaptation, channelling
funds to respond to such challenges and reflecting the principle of common but differentiated
responsibilities;
Underlining that meeting the Paris Agreement objectives, on the basis of mobilizing all
public and private stakeholders at all levels, including locally, and in all sectors of the economy,
including in agriculture and industry, is particularly contingent on the implementation of the LimaParis Action Agenda (Agenda of solutions),
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Also underlining that the objectives of the Paris Agreement, the SDGs and the UN
Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, complement each other and are mutually
reinforcing,
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Welcoming the holding of the 22 session of the Conference of the Parties to the
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United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22) and the 12 session of the
Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP12)
from 7 to 18 November in Marrakech in satisfactory conditions,
Also welcoming the fact that the Moroccan Presidency of the United Nations Climate
Change Conference in Marrakech has set the following four priorities for that event:
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Achieving nationally determined contributions,
Mobilizing funding,
Enhancing adaptation, and
Technological development,
Confident that the work begun as part of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition will
continue and will be prioritized during and after COP22, and recalling that at this stage that one of
the most important issues of that Conference is to consolidate the accountability and transparency
mechanisms required to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement,
Welcoming in particular that a humanist aspect of the Paris Agreement will be given
value through a new Summit of Conscience that will take place on the occasion of COP22, and that
acknowledgement of gender equality takes on a crucial dimension vis-à-vis climate change and
activities aimed at young people have become a priority,
Also welcoming the adoption of the United Nations General Assembly resolution
entitled Interaction between the United Nations, national parliaments and the Inter-Parliamentary
Union, with specific reference to paragraph 2 of that resolution,
Reaffirming the crucial role of parliaments in the implementation of the Paris
Agreement objectives, and recalling that, in that regard, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
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adopted at its 134 Assembly (19- 23 March 2016, Lusaka, Zambia) the Parliamentary Action Plan
on Climate Change, which commits legislators to promoting the swift ratification of the Paris
Agreement and guides them in their efforts to develop national legislation, guidelines and oversight
mechanisms required for its effective implementation,
Also reaffirming the recommendation of several parliaments to promote the work of
various parliamentary activities and meetings on climate change, in particular the parliamentary
meetings held in conjunction with the UN Climate Change Conferences, in order to provide a more
effective institutional dimension to these activities and meetings within the IPU,
Recognizing the ongoing role of parliamentarians in strengthening the international
response to climate change,
1.
Call upon the States that have not yet done so to initiate a swift process of ratification,
acceptance, approval or accession regarding the Paris Agreement […], in order to
begin enhanced pre-2020 action as soon as possible;
2.
Reaffirm our resolve as legislators and representatives of our peoples to speed up
ratification of the Paris Agreement, by drawing on our parliamentary procedures, as
soon as possible and by the end of June 2018 at the latest;
3.
Consider that, as the first session to follow on from the conclusion of the Paris
Agreement, COP 22/CMP 12 in Marrakech must lay the foundations for the
implementation of that Agreement by prioritizing the following actions in particular:
 Delivering nationally determined contributions: encourage countries to review their
nationally determined contributions on a voluntary basis and make them bolder to
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bring them in line with the target of containing global warming to below 2 C and
feed them into appropriate public policy;
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 Mobilizing funds: develop a process to incrementally mobilize funds in support of
developing countries, and in that regard, to propose mechanisms to facilitate
access to climate change funding and maximize the amounts allocated;
 Enhancing adaptation: ensure that substantial efforts are made in terms of
adaptation activities, through needs assessment, increased resource allocation
and enhanced capacity-building;
 Promoting measures to support economic growth in countries where climate
change results in serious humanitarian crises, poverty and migration flows,
 Technological development: develop a technology action plan, whose three main
components will be the sharing of tried-and-tested technology, the emergence of
ground-breaking technology and support for innovation through research and
development
 Pay particular attention to regions affected by climate change-induced migration
flows;
4.
Urge all parliaments and the IPU to implement the Parliamentary Action Plan on
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Climate Change, adopted at the 134 IPU Assembly in Lusaka;
5.
Call upon legislators to work in line with the Parliamentary Action Plan on Climate
Change towards developing national legislation, guidelines and oversight mechanisms
necessary for the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement;
6.
Reaffirm our commitment to conduct, by the end of 2016, a systematic analysis of
climate-related legislative work in our countries, so as to verify compliance with the
Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Sendai Framework for
Disaster Risk Reduction;
7.
Commit to amending where necessary existing legislation and developing and
adopting new laws designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions so as to help limit
the global temperature rise to below 2°C and to strengthen the resilience of our
national economies against the impacts of climate change;
8.
Also commit to supporting the inclusion into national climate change legislation of strict
measures relating to accountability and transparency, as well as to deploying all
parliamentary means at our disposal to ensure that our governments fulfil their
obligations; and to this end, commit to:
 Optimizing the effectiveness of relevant parliamentary committees;
 Requiring that ministers responsible for climate change and disaster risk reduction
report at least annually to parliament as part of a comprehensive parliamentary
debate about the progress that the government has made towards achieving the
goals stipulated by their national legislation and the requirements of their
international obligations;
 Organizing regular meetings between cross-party groups of parliamentarians and
the minister responsible for climate change, in order to debate inter alia the
national position, both before the United Nations negotiations take place, and once
negotiations have been completed, and to discuss their results and consequences
for national legislation and policy;
 Strengthen participation, consultation and information access mechanisms as part
of the decision-making process on environmental issues,
 Ensuring that national legislation contains clear provisions for implementation and
follow-up that draws on the full range of parliamentary procedures available;
 Ensuring that an open public debate takes place on the establishment and periodic
review of national targets concerning measures to mitigate the impact of climate
change, and to facilitate adaptation and risk reduction;
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 Promoting interaction between legislation and the policies related to such
legislation, in order to ensure coherence and to avoid conflicting signals or
incentives;
9.
Call on the IPU to reaffirm its commitment to:
 Raising awareness among parliamentarians about the importance of climate
change and encouraging all political groups to support measures designed to
mitigate national-level climate change risks;
 Promoting and facilitating the full use of legislative and oversight-related good
practices;
 Strengthening the linkages between parliamentarians and the United Nations,
including by increasing levels of interaction between parliamentarians and senior
officials in charge of United Nations processes, and by pressing for
parliamentarians to have greater access to United Nations negotiations;
 Contributing to the strengthening of ties between parliamentarians and relevant
civil society organizations;
10.
Urge the IPU to organize, with the host country of each COP session, a parliamentary
meeting aimed at promoting exchanges and feedback on parliamentary action in the
area of combating climate change; and recommend that the IPU examine the
possibility of providing, during its two Assemblies every year, and particularly within
the Standing Committee on United Nations Affairs, an opportunity to debate matters
related to climate change, with a view to monitoring and following up implementation
of the Paris Agreement;
11.
Advocate for parliamentarians to be recognized by the United Nations as the tenth
official stakeholder during negotiations on the implementation of the Paris Agreement;
12.
Recommend effective activation of the Green Climate Fund, the United Nations
financial mechanism linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC), whose aim is to transfer funds from the most advanced countries
to the most vulnerable developing countries that are seriously affected by climate
change;
13.
Entrust the IPU Secretary General with conveying the present outcome document of
the Parliamentary Meeting on the occasion of the UN Climate Change Conference at
Marrakech to Member Parliaments, the President of COP22, the United Nations
Secretary-General and other relevant organizations.